Simon Pegg 'ashamed' of 'Star Wars' toxic fandom

The Hot Fuzz and Star Trek star also added that he feels ‘ashamed’ for being part of the problem, particularly in the case of Jar Jar Binks from George Lucas’s prequel movies.

Binks actor Ahmed Best recently revealed that he considered suicide in the years following the movie, due to the backlash surrounding his character.

“I feel so ashamed of the fact that there was actually a victim, a human victim in that,” he told Now This.

Jar Jar Binks (Credit: Lucasfilm)

“I think most people were regarding Jar Jar Binks like he was a real creature and wailing on him for being annoying, or whatever, or not liking him. But there was a person behind that. And I read that and just thought, ‘Christ, I’m one of those people.’ It makes me feel awful.”

The extreme end of Star Wars fandom also reared its ugly head with the most recent movie, The Last Jedi, after which actress Kelly Marie Tran was the victim of prolonged sexist and racist abuse.

Director Rian Johnson also came in for criticism for some of the plot choices he made in the movie.

Kelly Marie Tran (Credit: Disney)

“There’s no diplomacy in that, there’s no empathy,” Pegg added.

“We’re becoming very, very insular as human beings. We’re becoming very self-driven, selfist, our opinions, our needs, our wants. I feel sorry for Kelly Marie Tran because she was just in a film — a f**king film, that’s all it is. None of it matters, none of it.

“I think it would be nice if everyone just got on. You know and stopped being so aggressive.”

Tran was driven off social media following months of abuse, deleting all of her posts on Instagram, despite having a large and loyal following.

Many came to her defence, including key figures like Johnson and Mark Hamill, who decried the ‘manbabies’ responsible.